Nairobi-Bound Ethiopian Passenger Plane Crashes Killing All Aboard

THE dead include, seven Britons, eight Americans, 32 Kenyans, nine Ethiopians, eight Chinese, seven French, 18 Canadians, six Egyptians, five from the Netherlands, and four from India and Slovakia

The flight came down – just after departing Addis Ababa – carrying 149 passengers from 35 countries and eight crew members.

The CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, Tewolde Gebremariam, this afternoon confirmed the dead also include eight Americans and Italians, 32 Kenyans, nine Ethiopians, eight Chinese, seven French, 18 Canadians, six Egyptians, five from the Netherlands, and four from India and Slovakia.

Earlier the Foreign Office had been unable to confirm to the Sun Online if any British nationals were onboard, but said it was working with teams on the ground in Ethiopia.

Mr Gerbremariam said the pilot, who had an “excellent flying record”, had reported difficulties and asked to turn back, adding the plane had “no known technical problems”.

It is not yet clear why the crash happened but something went wrong not long after takeoff – with Flight Radar suggesting on Twitter it had unstable vertical speed.

A chilling radar map shows the flight not far from Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, before the tracking suddenly stops.

Ethiopian Airlines released a picture of its CEO at the site of the crash on Facebook – where a large area of disrupted earth is covered with debris from the crash.

The jet, which came down around Bishoftu, or Debre Zeit, about 31 miles south of the capital city, is thought to have been delivered to the airline about four months ago.

The Prime Minister’s office tweeted this morning: “The Office of the PM, on behalf of the Government and people of Ethiopia, would like to express it’s deepest condolences to the families of those that have lost their loved ones on Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 on regular scheduled flight to Nairobi, Kenya this morning.”

Where were the victims from?

The Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed today was carrying passengers from more than 30 countries, the airline’s CEO told journalists.

He said they included 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, nine Ethiopians, eight Italians, eight Chinese citizens, eight Americans, seven British citizens, seven French citizens, six Egyptians, five Dutch citizens, four Indians, four people from Slovakia, three Austrians, three Swedes, three Russians, two Moroccans, two Spaniards, two Poles and two Israelis.